Rory McIlroy was pleased with his new Taylormade Qi4D driver but the putter, which has proven to be pivotal to his four victories this season, was stone cold on day one of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship at Yas Links.
The new Taylormade driver was on the USGA’s conforming list on Sunday night meaning that McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood, two of the high profile staffers, could game the new product this week. McIlroy couldn’t find love in the 2025 Qi35 model instead opting to use last year’s Qi10 for this season but he found his new toy to his liking as he settled for a ho hum opening 68.
“Felt like the driver was good, new driver in the bag this week,” said McIlroy who shares 27th place on four-under, four shots off the pace set by Shane Lowry, Tommy Fleetwood, Richard Sterne, Adrien Saddier and Kazuma Kobori.
“Hit some good iron shots, felt like I controlled the ball in the wind very well when it got up for the last few holes. Just need to hole a few more putts that was the difference between what I shot today and being up there.”
Despite boasting a sensational record in the UAE, McIlroy has four second and five third-place finishes in 13 appearances at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Champinoship but he has yet to win the event.
He started well here with birdies at the 2nd and 3rd holes and recovered from a bogey at the 5th with a welcome birdie on the 7th. It looked like the Masters champion was going to take the back nine by storm when he had a brace of birdies on 10 and 11 but the putts dried up for him as he shaved numerous edges and made a clumsy par from the middle of the fairway on 18 as he pitched through the green for his third.
“It was OK. Gave myself a lot of chances on the back nine and just didn’t really convert. Hit a lot of good putts but just mostly under reading them. Not to birdie the last from where I was off the tee was a little disappointing. Hopefully that was the bad round out of the way, hopefully have three more to go lower.”
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